The Second Life of Bree | Page 4

make sense to call attention to
the fact that a bunch of new vampires were claiming Seattle as their hunting ground?
How was that going to help us? I didn‘t even believe in vampires before I was one. So if
the rest of the world didn‘t believe in vampires, then the rest of the vampires must be
hunting smart, the way Riley said to do it. They probably had a good reason. And like
Diego‘d said, hunting smart just took a little brains and patience. Of course, we all
slipped up a lot, and Riley would read the papers and groan and yell at us and break
stuff—like Raoul‘s favorite video-game system. Then Raoul would get mad and take
somebody else apart and burn him up. Then Riley would be pissed off and he‘d do
another search to confiscate all the lighters and matches. A few rounds of this, and then
Riley would bring home another handful of vampirized dregs kids to replace the ones
he‘d lost. It was an endless cycle. Diego inhaled through his nose—a big, long pull—and
I watched his body change. He crouched on the roof, one hand gripping the edge. All that
strange friendliness disappeared, and he was a hunter. That was something I recognized,
something I was comfortable with because I understood it. I turned off my brain. It was
time to hunt. I took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of the blood inside the humans
below. They weren‘t the only humans around, but they were the closest. Who you were
going to hunt was the kind of decision you had to make before you scented your prey. It
was too late now to choose anything. Diego dropped from the roof edge, out of sight. The
sound of his landing was too low to catch the attention of the crying prostitute, the zoned-
out prostitute, or the angry pimp. A low growl ripped from between my teeth. Mine. The
blood was mine. The fire in my throat flared and I couldn‘t think of anything else. I
flipped myself off the roof, spinning across the street so that I landed right next to the
crying blonde. I could feel Diego close behind me, so I growled a warning at him while I
caught the surprised girl by the hair. I yanked her to the alley wall, putting my back
against it. Defensive, just in case. Then I forgot all about Diego, because I could feel the
heat under her skin, hear the sound of her pulse thudding close to the surface. She opened
her mouth to scream, but my teeth crushed her windpipe before a sound could come out.
There was just the gurgle of air and blood in her lungs, and the low moans I could not
control. The blood was warm and sweet. It quenched the fire in my throat, calmed the
nagging, itching emptiness in my stomach. I sucked and gulped, only vaguely aware of
anything else. I heard the same noise from Diego—he had the man. The other woman
was unconscious on the ground. Neither had made any noise. Diego was good. The
problem with humans was that they just never had enough blood in them. It seemed like

only seconds later the girl ran dry. I rattled her limp body in frustration. Already my
throat was beginning to burn again.
I threw the spent body to the ground and crouched against
the wall, wondering if I could grab the unconscious girl and
make off with her before Diego could catch up to me.
Diego was already finished with the man. He looked at me
with an expression that I could only describe as… sympathetic.
But I could have been dead wrong. I couldn‘t remember anyone
ever giving me sympathy before, so I wasn‘t positive what it
looked like.
―Go for it,‖ he told me, nodding to the limp girl on the ground.
―Are you kidding me?‖
―Naw, I‘m good for now. We‘ve got time to hunt some more
tonight.‖
Watching him carefully for some sign of a trick, I darted
forward and snagged the girl. Diego made no move to stop me.
He turned away slightly and looked up at the black sky.
I sank my teeth into her neck, keeping my eyes on him. This
one was even better than the last. Her blood was entirely clean.
The blonde girl‘s blood had the bitter aftertaste that came with
drugs—I was so used to that, I‘d barely noticed. It was rare for
me to get really clean blood, because I followed the dregs rule.
Diego seemed to follow the rules, too. He must have smelled
what he was giving up.
Why had he done it?
When the second body was empty, my throat felt better.
There was a lot of